Weird & Wonderful Wanderlust

Take your next travel adventure to the next level with our top five weird and wonderful places to visit around the world.

Gibbon Experience, Laos

The Gibbon Experience in Laos offers a unique experience to view gibbons in their natural habitat in the glorious jungles of Laos. This is conservation-based eco-tourism at its finest and when these guys say ‘gibbon experience,’ you really get the gibbon experience when your accommodation is literally in suspended treehouses built 40 meters in the air, offering breathtaking views of the forest canopy from your bed. The best part? Each treehouse is connected via zip line, so you’ll be zipping through the jungle like a gibbon on your way to trekking the jungle floors and exploring local water holes.

Did someone say road trip? A nine-hour drive from Adelaide, Coober Pedy offers a truly unique accommodation experience via its underground cave hotels and motels. Think Mad Max meets Priscilla Queen of the Desert as a vast majority of this opal mining town’s population live in astonishing houses dug into the earth to protect them from the often extreme desert temperatures. Don’t forget a solid supply of Cocobella to keep you hydrated in the desert heat!

For more cave action, Cappadocia in Turkey features some of the most stunning landscapes in the world including deep valleys and rock formations with entire underground cities artfully carved into the natural landforms. Created by volcanic eruptions and erosion and wind over a three-million-year period (that’s right, three million!), these rock formations are a sight that must been seen to be believed. Jump on a hot air balloon ride at sunrise and take it all in for an awe-inspiring experience you’ll never forget.

Arguably one of the most surreal sights on Earth, Salar De Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat. A photographer’s dream, when visited at the right time of day, this landscape produces a surreal mirror effect that can have the illusion of walking throughout the clouds of a horizon-less, fantasy world. Fun fact: Despite wildlife being a rare sight on this salty, baron land, Salar De Uyuni is famous for being a breeding ground for pink flamingos!

Finally, for the absolute brave of the brave, nothing beats Huashan Mountain in China. Known as the ‘Road to Heaven’ while simultaneously holding a reputation as being the ‘world’s most dangerous hike,’ thousands of adrenalin junkies brave the rickety stairs and tiny pathways made of planks, nailed into the side of mountains every year. The pay off once at the summit? A cup of tea at an ancient teahouse that was once a Taoist Temple. Surely one of the most relieving tea-drinking experiences one can have after those terrifying heights!